Currently, drivers of automotive vehicles have only very imprecise methods for managing the fuel consumption of their cars. For example, drivers can slow down, they can brake lightly, and they can carry lighter loads. Generally, however, fuel consumption cannot be precisely controlled by the driver. More accurate and precise control of fuel consumption is one of the best ways to improve the energy efficiency of most cars. In particular, accurate control of fuel consumption may optimize the energy efficiency of a car.
It has been shown that you can reduce fuel usage by efficient driving. According to Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a 35% improvement in miles per gallon (mpg) for all 2001 vehicles (whose overall average mpg was 20) would have reduced oil use in the United States by 2.7 Mbbl/d, approximately the same amount that the U.S. imported from the Gulf. See, for example, “Winning the Oil Endgame,” Rocky Mountain Institute, 2004. p. 50. Empirical evidence also supports the assertion that efficient driving can reduce fuel usage. For example, the Honda Insight™, a car available to the general public that normally gets 60 mpg, broke records in 2000 by getting 102 miles per gallon in a 7-day drive around the circumference of Britain. The team responsible did this purely by driving more efficiently, and not by modifying the car in any manner.
In most automotive vehicles, an operator controls the power applied to the vehicle (e.g., the engine of the vehicle) by operating the ignition, break and gas petals. Additional control is typically provided by operational assisting devices, such as a cruise control, that help to keep the vehicle at a constant speed, or within a range of speeds. However, such operational assisting devices typically do not optimize the power consumption of the vehicle, or control the speed and/or power provided to the vehicle based on an optimal power consumption level.
Many parameters may impact the optimal power consumption of a vehicle, including external factors (e.g., forces and conditions that act on the vehicle), internal conditions (e.g., the current status of the vehicle and it's component parts), operator commands (e.g., control commands from the operator driving or preparing to drive the vehicle), and operational parameters of the vehicle (e.g., performance capabilities of the vehicle based on the make and model and/or the component parts of the vehicle, as well as the historical performance of the vehicle).
In recent years the need for energy efficient vehicles has increased as the cost and availability of traditional fossil fuels has fluctuated. However, the need for fuel efficiency spans all types of vehicles, including currently available vehicles (e.g., internal combustion, solar, electric, and hybrid vehicles), as well as vehicles proposed or under development (e.g., hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and other electrically-fueled vehicles). In all of these types of vehicles, the overall fuel efficiency (regardless of the type of fuel), can be improved by optimizing the power supplied to the engine. As described herein, energy efficiency may be fuel efficiency or power efficiency. Energy supplied to the vehicle (e.g., the engine) may come from any appropriate source (e.g., gas, solar, battery, hydrogen, ethanol, etc.).
Thus, there is a need for devices and systems for controlling the power applied to a vehicle engine. The devices, systems and methods described herein address many problems identified for controlling the power supplied to automotive engines raised above.